Recommendations for Integrating Anti-Racist and Inclusive Pedagogy Strategies into Doctoral Teaching Training in Public Health

Abstract

Greater use of antiracist and inclusive pedagogy is necessary to address racism in public health education. To effectively prepare the next generation of public health faculty who can support diverse cohorts of students in developing the skills needed to promote health equity, such pedagogies must be integrated into doctoral teaching training. Based on our experiences as co-instructors and student of a doctoral-level course on teaching public health, we offer recommendations for integrating antiracist and inclusive pedagogies into doctoral teaching training. First, integrating student voices, such as letters to academic institutions demanding changes to address institutional racism, can prompt reflection and discussion on how doctoral students’ teaching can contribute to antiracist work. Second, pedagogy courses offer the opportunity to model inclusive teaching strategies that value the participation and perspectives of all students. Third, mentored teaching experiences provide doctoral students opportunities to meaningfully engage in course preparation and delivery, including reflexive consideration of positionality in the context of the course. Fourth, instructors and doctoral students must engage in ongoing and collaborative learning, reflection, discovery, and accountability. We encourage public health programs to assess how antiracist and inclusive pedagogies fit into doctoral teaching training and implement further steps to better prepare future faculty to become antiracist educators.